lAA TAX STATISTICIAN 

 RETIRES AFTER 26 YEARS 



"4 



ONE of the lAA's stanchest cham- 

 pions and best-loved workers re- 

 tired the other day after more than 26 

 years of faithful service to the farmers 

 of Illinois. 



He is John C. Watson, pioneer farm- 

 er's son turned teacher, classics scholar, 

 statistician, farm manager and for near- 

 ly two decades director of taxation and 

 statistics for the lAA. 



Like his work in tax statistics aiming 

 at giving Illinois farmers an even break 

 on tax assessments in relation to assess- 

 ments levied against other groups, there 

 is nothing flamboyant in Mr. Watsons 

 personal makeup. 



Ph.D. in Classics 



Typical of his friendly unassuming 

 ways is his attitude toward his titles 

 of professor and doctor. For although 

 he has earned both the hard way in the 

 study and teaching of classical philol- 

 ogy, Mr. Watson made^it clear in his 

 early days with the lAA that just plain 

 John was what he liked best and that's 

 the way it has been. Although the 

 younger members of the lAA staff, im- 

 pressed by his distinguished record, 

 can't help but address him as "Mr. 

 Watson." 



In presenting a gold watch to Mr. 

 Watson as a token of remembrance on 

 behalf of the lAA staff, lAA Field 

 Secretary George Metzger described the 

 Watson lAA career in a capsule when 

 he said : "Where the interests of Illinois 

 farmers were concerned, John Watson 

 could pound county board of review 

 tables with the best of them." 



Born Near Ludlow 



Before coming to the lAA, Mr. Wat- 

 son had a long and notable career as an 

 educator. He was born near Ludlow 

 in Champaign county Jan. 9, 1869, on 

 an 80-acre farm purchased by his father 

 for $14 per acre. 



His 98-year-old mother still lives in 

 Urbana and may be the oldest Farm 

 Bureau member in the state. She has 

 held membership in the Champaign 

 County Farm Bureau for several years. 



Mr. Watson attended rural school 

 when he wasn't helping his father on 

 the farm, graduated from Eureka col- 

 lege in 1887 and studied the following 

 two years at Harvard university. 



Following the completion of his stud- 



JANUARY. 1947 



ies at Harvard, he was married to his 

 Eureka classmate, Edna Hamilton of 

 Harristown, and began his teaching 

 career at Menominee, Mich. 



Later he taught at Chicago's Lake 

 View High School, and in 1899 returned 

 to Harvard to do graduate work in 

 classics. 



After receiving the degree of doctor 

 of philosophy in 1902, he taught Latin 

 at Cornell university for five years, then 

 farmed for three years near Minot, N. 

 D. With only two total crop failures in 

 4o years, Mr. Watson still considers his 

 North Dakota farm as good an invest- 

 ment as the Champaign county farm he 

 inherited from his father. 



In 1910 he quit active farming to 



John C. Watson (left), member of the lAA 

 ftofl for more than a quarter of a century, 

 is presented with a goid watch by lAA 

 Fieid Secretary George E. iMetzger on his 

 retirement from the research and taxation 

 department. 



teach Greek at the University of Nevada 

 and serve as first dean of the College 

 of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The hope- 

 less illness of his father caused him to 

 return to Illinois, leaving Reno, as he 

 has often remarked, with the same wife 

 he had when he went there. 



Returning to Champaign county, Mr. 

 Watson managed his own and his 

 mother's farms and operated the North 

 Dakota farm for the last two years of 

 World War I. 



When the late Herbert W. Mum- 

 ford, later dean of the University of Il- 

 linois College of Agriculture, took a 

 leave of absence to become director* of 



the newly established lAA department 

 of livestock marketing, Mr. Watson 

 heard he was looking for an analyst of 

 livestock statistics. Soon after, on May 

 17, 1920, to be exact, he started working 

 for the growing organization he stayed 

 with for the next 26 years. 



Appointed director of the lAA de- 

 partment of taxation and statistics in 

 January, 1923, Mr. Watson became 

 familiar to farmers in virtually every 

 county of the state which he visited 

 many times during his stubborn fight 

 for tax equalization. 



Made Assessment Tests 



He presented strong evidence of in- 

 equity in state valuations to the State 

 Tax Commission in 1922. The com- 

 mission was asked to make heavy re- 

 ductions in valuations of lands for 

 state purposes, and as a result for the 

 first time the tax commission accepted 

 the evidence but granted only a six per 

 cent cut. 



The following year he started tests 

 of assessments as between rural and ur- 

 ban property in the state. In that year 

 these tests were made in 56 counties 

 and in most, though not all, inequali- 

 ties, often gross, were found between 

 the average assessment ratios of lands 

 and town lots. In all cases the County 

 Farm Bureaus, with Mr. Watson assist- 

 ing, presented this evidence to the 

 county boards of review. Lower assess- 

 ments followed in many cases. 



Serves as Adviser 



Mrs. Watson died in 1944, 29 days 

 before she and her husband planned to 

 celebrate their golden wedding anniver- 

 sary. 



They were the parents of three chil- 

 dren : Mrs. Constance W. File, Indiana, 

 Pa.; Malcolm H. Watson, Fresno, 

 Calif.; and Mrs. Beatrice W. Tourte- 

 batte. New York City. 



He has three grandchildren: Robert 

 W. File, Houston, Texas ; James C. File, 

 a student at the University of Chicago, 

 who lives with Mr. Watson ; and Mrs. 

 Janet Watson Snively also of Chicago. 



He retired from the directorship of 

 the department of taxation and statis- 

 tics in 1941 but remained as an adviser 

 on taxation and school problems. 



Mr. Watson retires from the lAA in 

 good health, and with an eager interest 

 in some of his later studies which he- 

 plans to continue. 



For this purpose and the continui- 

 ance of his pleasant associatiofl with 

 his many friends, he has gratefully ac- 

 cepted the offer of a desk and a book- 

 case and secretarial service in the oflFice 

 of the Association officially given him 

 by President Shuman and the board of 

 directors. 



